13.8.15

One
morning, the sky was grey, so we decided to go to Pisa, where some of us hadn’t
yet been. We actually met heavy rain on our way, but the sky cleared up soon after
our arrival.

Yes, the
tower is leaning… more or less visible, depending on from where you take your
photos. (As stated, the top picture of the bottom floor was taken holding the camera straight.)

The tower,
as all the buildings on what is referred to as the Piazza dei Miracoli (or Piazza
dei Duomo) was built on unstable sand. It has its origins from the 12th century
and started to lean rather soon, but only to a rather limited degree. More
levels were added and with some of them one tried to correct the leaning, which actually
means that if you look closer, the tower has a slight banana shape. The leaning
process continued during the centuries, until it was rather recently (1990-2001)
stopped and the tilt actually was partially corrected. It had reached more than
5 degrees and is now reduced to slightly less than 4 degrees. (I guess there
was no wish from the local authorities to reduce the leaning to zero.) Here are
some details from the outside (tilting the camera by 4 degrees).

You must of
course go to the top – 296 steps on one side, 294 on the other. The bell
chamber has seven bells, one for each note of the major scale. You have a nice
view of the other buildings on the Piazza dei Miracoli.

The construction of the “Duomo”, the cathedral, started during the 11th
century, some 100 years before its bell tower. Although some alterations have occurred over the centuries (a serious fire in 1595), a lot is “original”.
Marble is of course used (we are close to Carrara).

A closer
look on the early 14th century pulpit.

Another
building on the Piazza is the 12th century Baptistery (actually also
leaning, but only by 0.6 degrees). Its lower parts are in Romanesque, the
higher in Gothic style. Not much decoration inside, but again you find a
beautiful 13th century pulpit. The statue of John the Baptist is by
the 20th century artist Italo Griselli.

A fourth
building, also from the 12th century, is the Campo Santo (Holy
Field), so named as it’s said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil
from Golgotha. Over one of the entrances is a 14th century Gothic
tabernacle. Basically it’s a cemetery, with a lot of ancient graves and
sarcophagi. The walls were covered by frescoes, which were greatly destroyed in
1944 by a fire caused by a fragment from an Allied raid. Restoration work is in
progress.

There is a
lot more to be seen in Pisa, a city with a very long history - during centuries
an important port at the junction of the – then navigable - Arno River (which you also meet in Florence) and the smaller Serchio River,
struggling with Genoa, Venice… to be the most influential power in what later
became Italy. We didn’t have the time for a more complete tour, but did some
walking around in our research for eating and drinking places.

SUPER post, Peter!!! Your photos are, as always. wonderful, as well as all the little pieces of information. I could see that banana shape of the tower. And I love all the photos you took of the magnificent stone carvings on it. I am overwhelmed! MUST see it for real some day!Kathryn

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My previous blog, PHO, was in operation for a year as from March 2007. It contains similar posts as this one, basically talking about different well known or more secrete sites in Paris. You can reach it by clicking HERE.